Skeletons
by Bumbleb3e
Summary: Kate Wilcox is a South London junkie with practically no regard for other people. She's shaken up when she gets sucked into a Gersch Device and ends up in the Soviet space station with four weird men. OC & romance & probably slash.
1. Prequel

The sun beat down and through the gaps between the grimy, once-white blinds in my bedroom, if you could call it that. Pulling the black blanket up and over my head, I groaned in protest as I felt the oh-so-familiar post-binge headache begin to wash over me. Reaching around blindly, I fumbled with my hands around the floor to find whatever pills were closest – hopefully aspirin – whilst being careful to avoid the two or three used needles from last weekend of which the whereabouts were far too vague for my comfort.

When the headache began to tighten its grip and I couldn't be bothered with just fumbling around blindly, it took all my motivation and strength to drag myself out of the depths of the beautiful warmth of my covers and pillows, and stumbled across the dirty wooden floor to the mirror.

Upon the sight of my own reflection, I sighed in exasperation at the mess of a human being staring back at me, copying my every move. The red dye from my hair had started to fade into an unnatural peachey-orange colour, the short layers sticking up in all directions and the rest of it just flopping lifelessly around my face. Last night's makeup showed its ugly aftermath, lipstick smeared across my face like a clown, contrasting with the melted eyeliner and mascara framing my eyes in a panda sort of way. I was too pale, the harsh orange of my foundation contrasting starkly with the bone-white skin of my neck.

"Kate, you're a mess." My voice echoed round my empty room, which was once fully furnished and full of books and art, DVD's, games, endless amounts of clothes, technologies like my laptop and television... until I sold almost all my possessions to feed my addiction.

And bail my best friend Jenna out of jail one time.

It didn't bother me that I lived on the bare minimums in my tiny apartment, it felt liberating to be free from corporate greed and materialism, and so spent my money on things which I enjoyed... maybe more than most people. I'd only been on the drugs for three years, the last of which I'd been lured in by false promises of 'it's not addictive' and 'go on, don't be a pussy', finding myself on the verge of addiction which only worsened when I started dealing to make up for the huge fall of income after I lost my stupid office job. There's only so many times you can roll in two hours late, reeking of perfume to cover up the smell of the whiskey, and refusing point blank to remove your dark sunglasses to disguise your bloodshot eyes when you've been smoking.

Needless to say, having nothing around in my house meant I was always with my friends, always bored when on my own, and just point-blank insane when it came to that time of the month when no-one has any money and we can't even afford a tenner's worth of weed and some beers, or even just a gram of coke to go around six of us.

But today was different. It was the 24th May, and that only meant one thing... I'd have money in my bank from Gaz. He was a friend who at current I was growing weed for, which meant of course I was gonna throw a party, and in my opinion a party without a truckload of illegal substance was no party. After pulling some aspirin from a packet I found lying around on the floor, I knocked them back and wondered which was the best way to go about picking up what I needed, without getting baited up and where would be best to avoid cops, as well as dodging getting mugged. South London as of late had been notorious for raids, following a series of drug-related stabbings, shootings and robberies, so I had to pick my route carefully. On this ill-fated day I just happened to choose wrong, not for any of the aforementioned reasons, but for a reason no one could ever have foreseen.

Stepping into my dirty bath, I almost slipped on the mould covering the bottom as I reached up to turn on the taps. The cold water shocked me to the core, I gasped as the droplets fell from the shower head and onto my shoulders, finding out the hard way that they really do cut off your hot water if you don't pay the bill. Even after I was ready – clean, with somewhat less clean clothes and fresh makeup, I just wasn't full of the party spirit. Something didn't feel right, though I had no idea what it was. I locked the door of my small third-floor apartment, and made my way down the dingy, narrow set of stairs in my block of flats. I walked out calmly into the streets of Hackney, a trademark police van flashing its siren surrounded by helmeted figures in green jackets wielding riot shields and batons. Great, another raid. I made haste, sifting through the crowd that had gathered to watch the invasion of the house of whoever the poor person was with ease amidst cries from fanatics for 'public hanging!' and 'get 'im officers!', pushing and shoving as needed and breaking into a jog once I'd made it through the crowd of sheep. Down narrow streets and winding lanes, I ran until I got to the place of one of my dealers, Jack.

'Bloody hell girl, pigs on your back? Been another raid down the Hackney district this morning, suppose you know already though eh?' Jack's accent was strong, clearly a South Londoner through and through. A tall, skinny, blonde well-dressed individual, studying at university to become a musician, you'd never make the connection that he was one of the biggest drug dealers this side of the Thames. Jack sold everything from weed to heroin, and had multiple people employed to ease the load for distribution. I respected him completely, and the cheeky smile he threw at me made my cheeks burn a little.

'Yeah, man. Pathetic that they have to solve their debts in the streets though, ruining it for some of us who are trying to make a living off this shit.' I ran a hand through my hair, worrying how I was going to get everything home without getting caught.

'One of my guys is out on a run to Mayfair at the minute, wanna hold on here til he gets back? He can run you home, no worries about petrol or nothing, just don't want you getting stuck in the meat wagon...' He asked, concern shadowing the smile he wore just a few seconds ago.

'Nah man, I'll be fine. Been through tougher shit than that.'

I left Jack's about ten minutes later, my backpack full to the top with illegal substances, I started the long run home. Back the same way, down winding lanes and dingy alleys, away from the public, I was nearly home...

About two minutes walk away from Hackney, I was passing a particularly narrow road, when I saw something I couldn't quite believe. It was a black ball of some sort, surrounded by a luminous purple light, glowing and shining in the middle of the street. It made an electrical sort of humming noise, somewhat like that of a fridge, the real world around the ball and its glow somehow distorting and bending around it like a contortionist.

Man, these drugs are fucking my head up.

I walked towards it, intrigued, the humming got louder. When the purple glow around the ball turned out to be nothing more than light, I wondered what the black centre of mass could even be. I crept closer, closer, til I could reach out and touch it. With determination, I extended my arm to the dark ball, and I felt a pulling sensation drag me forward. I stepped back, fear of the unknown gripping its hand around me, to no avail as the pulling sensation got stronger, stronger, until there was no way out. I screamed as I felt my whole body get sucked in by this strange device which was almost like a black hole of sorts, I closed my eyes and wished to god I'd never been such a fearless bastard.


	2. Where Am I?

'Yo doc, what the hell is going on? Take a look at this...' said a confused American accent, somewhere in a distant other world, far from the pitch black nothingness that surrounded me. He echoed through the endless space, ringing in my ears like when you're camping in the woods and your friend's yelling out to you that they're getting wood for the fire so they can get some light in the god damn place.

'Hmm, I see. Vhen did she get here, und how?' echoed another voice, ringing in a German accent.

'No idea, she just, boom, appeared. There was a purple light around her but it's gone, kinda like what happens when we throw one of those black hole things to suck in the freakbags.' The American voice became louder and clearer.

'Dempshey, from now ve have to monitor zhose devices. Now try and vake her up, please.'

A cold hand on my forehead startled me, and I opened my eyes. I gasped in shock as a tall man loomed over me, scowling with concern. He was blonde and blue eyed, rather muscly looking, wearing some sort of military uniform. He looked a bit like my dealer Jack, if he was twenty years older and so skinny. Confusion reigned as I sat up, and rubbing a sore patch on the back of my head, I stared at my hand in horror when I realised I was bleeding.

'You bashed your head pretty bad when you landed here, I think. Nothin' to worry about though, we got a fine doctor on the premises to sort it out.' The American man winked at me, I stared on at him with confusion and suspicion, in between closing my eyes to try and quell the monstrous headache that had taken its grip on me.

'Tank Dempsey, US Marine Corps.' He flashed a smile of straight pearly whites. 'And does the lovely lady sitting here happen to have a name?'

I continued to stare at him with a scowl as I rubbed the back of my head, trying to nurse the wound.

'Alright, Tank? Name's Kathrin. But that's way too posh, so call me Kate. And I don't wanna be rude or nothing, but where the fuck am I?' I asked.

He smiled weakly, before an expression fell over his features somewhere between what seemed like confusion and stress.

'This place ain't a nice one, I won't lie to ya Kate. You a fan of horror movies?'

'Yeah. Love 'em. Why?'

'Ever see that film, White Zombie? I was only young when it came out, it was about 1932 I think, so kinda before your time...' mused the American, distracted by seemingly nothing as he stared into space. A set of footsteps echoed from behind me, and as I turned round whoever Tank was distracted by came into view.

What the fuck could he mean about that film anyway? 1932, and he was only young? This man looked forty years of age, at the very most. Just how old could he be?

Another tall, much skinner man came into view as I focused on him. He wore a space suit which hung a bit loosely on his thin frame which I thought was a bit funny, yet he had a fierce demeanour about him, unlike anything I'd ever seen. The moment he stared at me for the first time I will never forget, how that pair of calculating green eyes pierced right through me, cold as ice and chilling me to the core. You could practically see the cogs turning at full pace behind those emotionless sparkling orbs, analyzing every part of my appearance and body language, looking through a window into the depths of my very psych. I shivered a little as he got closer to me, and I focused all my attention on that oh-so-fascinating twig in front of me on the ground, until those luminescent green eyes became level with mine.

'Ah, vunderbar. You are avake. My name is Edward Richtofen. Oh no, vait, let me start again. I am ze magnificent, DOCTOR Edward Richtofen!' He exclaimed, laughing manically. This man seemed like he'd been harder on the drugs than me and was paying the price. He was downright crazy.

'And who, might I ask, are you, Frauline?' Edward asked me.

'Kate. Kate Wilcox. Good to meet you, Edward.' I kept my tone neutral, almost coming across as professional. As I extended my hand to shake his, his ever-staring eyes never looked away once as he bought my hand up to a pair of thin lips, smirked and planted a lingering kiss on me.

Creep.

'Richtofen! Dempsey! They are coming again!' yelled another man's voice, urgent in his tone, and a pair of running footsteps in our direction bought a Japanese guy into view. He looked panicked as he ran over to the pile of rubble where I'd landed.

'Young rady! You must get out of here, your rife is in danger!' he exclaimed at me, as he grabbed my arm.

'Get off me, I don't know you – who are you? And what the hell is going on?' I was so confused and dizzy, I contradicted myself as I clung onto his arm for support as my head pounded from the injury, and I was overwhelmed with information. I needed a fix of anything, even coffee would have done it for me at that moment.

The shadow of a man appeared around the corner from where we were, walking slowly with a significant limp. His arms were stretched out in front of him as he staggered, and the sound that came from his direction was something seemingly un-human. He yelled in short bursts, not in a man's voice but almost a roar, he groaned in between shouts and growls.

'Who's that?' I asked the Japanese man whose arm I clung onto for dear life.

'We do not have the time. Run!'

Following Tank and Edward, the man broke into a sprint, dragging me with him as my wobbly legs ran along with him. After what seemed like forever, which was most likely only around ten seconds, we'd ran up a flight of stairs and onto a platform where there was a big round thing with rails around it in the middle.

'Takeo, get her onto ze lander, und hurry!' yelled Edward as he pulled a pistol out of his pocket and ran down the stairs.

Staring on down the stairs as I climbed into the big railed thing, I saw something that shocked me so much I could have died at that very moment. A horrible, snarling, running something that looked somewhat human came charging full speed in our direction, ignoring Edward and Tank as it got closer to me and this Takeo guy.

A stench worse than I could have ever imagined filled and assaulted my nostrils as the thing got nearer, I was greeted by a pair of glowing yellow eyes surrounded by grey, green, decaying skin, dressed in a space suit like the Doctor wore. A pink fleshy patch on its head showed its exposed brain through its broken skull.

So _this_ is why Tank spoke about zombie movies.

As the zombie reached out, the lander jolted and we were lifted into the air. I never took my arms off Takeo once, as I felt myself drop down to the floor, the dizziness getting the better of me as everything in front of me became darker and darker until I passed out.


	3. What the hell is Juggernog?

'Rittle girl! Rake up!' a loud voice and a slap across my face bought me hurtling back to reality. I opened my eyes to see Takeo sitting over me, an urgent look on his face.

'Where are we?' I rubbed the back of my head, and took in my surroundings. To my left was a tall red machine that was somehow playing music, it bore a picture of a white cross and the machine was apparently called a Juggernog. I'd never seen one before, I stared on at it in fascination.

'Drink this, now, it will enable you to fight with honor.' Takeo extended a bottle of red liquid towards me, the same logo from the machine on the front of it. Not caring what it was, I knocked it back expecting a dirty flavour to assault my tastebuds, I nearly choked when I was greeted by a sweet taste of strawberries and cough medicine, and a little something else I couldn't quite put my finger on.

As soon as I'd finished the sickly sweet liquid, waves of energy surged through my body and I stood up, the pain in my head no longer bothering me as I felt my muscles become energized and my dizziness fade away right in front of my eyes. I had no idea what this Juggernog thing was, but why we didn't have it back home was going to be something of an issue by the time I got back.

If I got back.

'Now, come with me. But we must run!' Takeo grabbed my hand and broke into a sprint, I followed suit as the force he put into it nearly knocked me for six. Up what seemed like endless flights of stairs we ran, until we reached a room filled with machines and to my right was a big lever that was pulled down, with static electric sounds emitting from it. On the other side of a room was a large wooden box with question marks on it, supported by some bricks.

'What's in there?' I couldn't help my curiosity as I blurted out my question, I felt my cheeks burn as soon as I'd said it – I wasn't the nosy type.

'Just ralk up to the box and open it.' Takeo stood behind me with his arms folded, a small machine gun in one hand as he watched down the stairs for any intruders that might have caught us off guard. Walking up to the box, I reached my hand out slowly and pulled open the lid. A small jingle started to play, I stared on gormlessly in shock as all weapons under the sun flashed before me before landing on a small red toy-looking thing.

'Ah! The ray gun, such an honourable weapon!' exclaimed Takeo, as I took the small gun and he motioned for me to run down the stairs. We ran out of a room that was just above the room with the Juggernog, and as soon as I turned the corner I came face-to-face with the walking undead. Although there was only two of them, I felt my hands begin to clam up and I felt my whole body shake in terror. In those split seconds we held each other's gaze, I stared into the lifeless yellow eyes of the zombie and right into its hungry, yet tormented soul. With some difficulty I pulled up the ray gun, shakily pointing it at the zombie, and pulled the trigger.

I gasped in shock as a spurt of green light splashed out of the gun, briefly engulfing the zombie before it fell to the ground. No longer had I pulled the trigger, the second zombie broke into a sprint, its arms reaching out trying to claw for me. I stumbled back as the zombie lunged at my neck, I felt the flesh rip slightly and I cried out in pain. I pulled the trigger of my ray gun once more and killed the zombie, I reached up tentatively to touch my neck and to my surprise there was no inkling of any kind of injury.

I fell to the ground, confused. Maybe that was what Takeo meant about this Juggernog thing. I'd felt the flesh rip, the pain had seared through me like a white hot poker, yet there was nothing. This place was so strange, yet I felt like I'd only uncovered the very surface.

As a figure moved around the corner next to where I was sitting, I stood up in a flash and held out my gun once more.

'Ey girl, put that gun down. You look so angry, you remind me of first wife!' A deep laugh echoed from him, I stared on at him scowling. He was a big man; he wore some sort of military uniform I hadn't seen before with a headscarf covering his hair. His facial features were hardened, but through which a pair of stunning blue eyes shined down onto me. His accent was Russian, and he had somewhat of a growl. It was quite sexy.

'I am Nikolai, is nice to meet you. I have heard from the American and the Nazi about you, apparently you are quite good at fainting.' He chuckled to himself, my cheeks burned in total embarrassment as I stood up and brushed the dust from the ground off my legs. I said nothing as I stared on at him, and walked away.

'Come. We are stationed at the location of lander by explosion drink. Is not as good as vodka, but I have plenty of that. And no need to worry, is nearly night time. Those dirty hell-spawn can not locate us when is dark.'

I followed him up through the passage and up the stairs until we were at the place where Takeo and I took the lander, and sure enough there sitting on it was Takeo, Tank and Richtofen.

'So Taks tells me your first spin on the box got you a ray gun? That's freakin' sweet man. First time I ever went I pulled out a sniper. Dragunov, I think. Piece of shit didn't get me one damn zombie, Richtofen got pretty mad cause I kept holding him up.' Tank giggled, poking the Doctor in the ribs as he did so. Richtofen gritted his teeth and glared on at the American, then looked to me and motioned for me to sit next to him. Not wanting to sit next to the strange man, I plopped down between Takeo and Nikolai to let Dempsey and Richtofen have their little feud.

'What was yours?' I asked Richtofen, feeling a little more confident now I was between two men who were considerably bigger than myself.

'Zhe Wunderwaffe, of course.' Edward gave me a half-smile, a deviant look in his eyes as he turned his gaze away from me to nowhere in particular.

'Mein golden rod, my most beautiful creation... how ironic zhat it vould someday save my life on many occasions...' he mused, and I turned to Takeo and Nikolai.

'You guys haven't seen a bag around, have you? It's kinda big, and purple. I was carrying it when I got here. Have you seen it about?' I needed a fix, and the only place I could get one right now was from my stash. I'd definitely stumbled upon this place at the right time, I had a friend with a large amount of vodka, and enough narcotics to start up a business.

'It is next to zhe PHD Flopper, but zhere vere some needles in zhere zhat I have confiscated for research purposes. Everyzhing else is intact, but I vould bevare about zhose sweets zhat have zhe pictures on..' Said Edward in a very matter-of-factly tone.

'You... took... my needles?' I muttered, looking away from him.

'Ja.' He stared at me, nonplussed.

'YOU TOOK MY FUCKING NEEDLES? I need them! You don't go in a girl's bag without asking her first! I need those fucking needles dammit!' I stood up, grabbing my head in anger, stomping my feet as I felt tears well up behind my eyes and start to fall.

'I will fucking get you for this Edward!' I stormed towards the lander, pushing the 'go' button on the controls and watched in satisfaction as I expelled the four men away from me, back to the mainframe. I ran over to my bag and spilled out the contents, and found that Edward was true to his word. I screamed out in white-hot anger, kicking and lashing out at just about everything in my path including a zombie barrier, when a horde of undead came sprinting towards the broken entrance, clawing at me and moaning.

This was going to be fun.


	4. The Girl and the Centrifuge

As the zombies ripped and clawed at the weak wood holding them out, I stumbled back as one lunged its decaying arm at me and pulled out my ray gun. Firing a few shots in the general direction of the zombies, splash after splash of green light poured out of the gun until it started to click. Wondering why such a brilliant gun would only hold twenty shots, I backed away until I hit another machine, apparently called a PhD Flopper. It was big and yellow, with a spiky purple circle on top of it. Throwing my empty ray gun down onto the floor, I decided to take a chance with this new mystery drink. I knocked it back, the sour sweet taste of prunes hitting the back of my throat making me cough.

The zombies broke into a sprint, and I backed away from them not knowing what to do. I ran down the stairs until they had me cornered near the bottom, so I broke away and ran back up, trying to herd them until the men returned. More zombies came from behind me, so I accepted my fate and decided that if I was going to die that jumping into a big group of zombies would be the most interesting way to go. Taking a running start, I dived off the top of the staircase and closed my eyes.

BOOM.

As I opened my eyes, all I could see was a luminescent blue light surrounding me as zombie corpses fell to the floor like a chain of dominoes. Shaking, I stood up, confused. No longer had I got to my feet that I saw one lone, limping zombie making its steady way towards me. I pulled out the sickle I'd found near the lander (I think it was Nikolai's) and watched in fascination as zombie blood and guts splashed everywhere. It fell to the ground with a scream, and I flopped down next to it as my legs gave way.

'Kate! What the hell did you do that for? That's not cool, and don't think just 'cause you're a girl you're gonna get away with this!' I saw Tank come sprinting towards me, a scowl etched over his face. The creases across his features faded into shock as he saw me sat on the floor, covered in zombie blood, surrounded by undead corpses.

'Holy shit, what happened to you?' he strolled over to where I was sitting, and crouched down next to me.

'Nothing of interest.' I muttered towards the zombie corpse.

'Them undead meatsacks must have heard you running your mouth when you kicked off like that. Typical woman. Couldn't let it go, could ya? Richtofen's a strange man, we've all had to make sacrifices having him around, but he's pretty much the only one who knows what he's doing.' Tank was making me mad, I picked up the sickle off the floor and started cleaning it, not wanting to look at him for fear of bursting into tears.

'Tank, you just don't get it. I need them needles. I need my fix, or I won't be able to live my life.' I kept my tone low, not once taking my eyes off the sickle.

'Well you just fought off a huge crowd of zombies on your own, you seem to be doing pretty well to me.' Tank smirked, I shot him a look like daggers. I wasn't in the mood to argue.

'Where is everyone else?' I changed the subject to stop the stupid American grinning at me any longer.

'At the mainframe, where you banished us to, of course.'

'I have a question.'

'And what might that be?' Tank looked on at me curiously.

'My ray gun. Why does it only fire twenty shots? It's such a good gun, surely with such a small amount of ammo that's a pretty big design flaw?' I passed him the gun, and I startled when I was met with a reaction of loud, hysterical laughter from the marine.

'Oh my god. Tough little London chick who fought off all the zombies single-handed doesn't know how to reload a gun!' I scowled at him, livid as he cracked up about my lack of knowledge with weaponry. He showed me how to reload the gun, before grabbing my arm and pulling me up.

'Let's take a trip to the mainframe. But stay away from Edward, he's pissed at you.'

I grabbed my purple bag next to the PhD Flopper machine and we made our way to the others. I was greeted with a cheeky smirk from Nikolai, a curt nod from Takeo, and Edward didn't seem to be anywhere nearby. I was glad about this.

'Katie! Come! You must drink vodka with us, we are speaking of our countries and of old times!' Nikolai motioned for me to sit next to him, I did so happily as he handed me a half-full bottle of vodka and I took a few swigs. As soon as the liquid slid down my throat, I felt myself become fuzzy and warm, and somewhat at home with these guys. We chatted for what seemed like forever – Takeo told me all about his culture in Japan, about how he'd dedicated his life to family and honour, and Nikolai shared some stories of life in Russia, his wives, and his political career. Looking at him, you'd never think he'd been married so many times. Or that he'd actually killed a fair few of those women, when they'd deserved it. Nikolai wasn't afraid to stand up for himself, and I admired this about him.

'Kate, you are from England yes? Very honourable country, tell me of your culture.' Takeo motioned for me to drink some more vodka, I knocked it back and took a breath.

'I live in a small flat in South London by myself, but my best mate Jenna stays a lot. We throw a lot of parties, we go clubbing every weekend. We get high all day, every day. And when none of us have drug money near the end of the month, we just get a few beers in and share them between about six of us. My parents want nothing to do with me, they feel like I've failed them 'cause I've been living my life the way I want to. They're quite posh and rich, but they don't support me financially. I make my money selling drugs, that's how I pay the rent. It's a good life, I'm not caged into some nine-to-five office job like everyone else. I feel free. The only thing that I'd want to change is the fact I don't know when to stop. When I moved onto heroin, everything seemed to blur into one long sorry comedown. That's what kind of drug it is. It screws you up. I just don't know when to stop sometimes, I guess. That's why I got mad about Edward taking my needles.'

Tank had joined us by now, and the three men stared at me intently.

'I live differently to most people. My friends and I are more liberated than your average Londoner who does their Monday to Friday hours and happily sits in front of their TV with Big Brother and the X Factor blaring out of it, surrounded by consumerism and corporate nonsense. They're happy living in their illusion of freedom and thinking that their life has meaning, when in fact they're just chess pieces for the corporations at the top who really run the game. I couldn't live that sort of life.' I swirled the vodka round in its bottle, the whole thing nearly diminished between me, Nikolai, Tank and Takeo.

After we'd drank the rest of the vodka, I pulled a small container out of my bag, only marked with the letter E. I felt a bit down after drinking and talking about the world back home, so I decided I needed a pick-me-up and offered it to the guys.

'What the hell are those things?' Asked Tank, looking at the multicoloured pills I'd taken out and was holding.

'Ecstasy. It makes you feel happy.' I said, nonplussed, as I knocked one back. I offered it to the others.

'Nikolai is up for anything!' exclaimed the Russian as he took a yellow smiley-faced pill from my hand and swallowed it.

'I do not need substances to bring me joy, only honour!' Takeo swayed as he spoke, before spontaneously flopping back where he was sitting and settled into a drunken slumber, snoring quietly.

'God damn, Taks, this happens every time! He really can't handle his drink. Hell, why not, I'll give it a spin.' Tank took a pink pill from my hand, closed his eyes and swallowed it, grimacing at the chalky taste.

The familiar feeling rushed over me, I felt my heart begin to pound in my ears and chest, happy feelings raced through my whole body, coursing with energy.

'Show me what that big thing does!' I pointed to the large horizontal piece of metal suspended on a platform above me, which made a sound every now and then and spun.

'The centrifuge? Oh, it's great. When me and the guys are goofing off with nothing to do we like to hang onto it and set it off, and see who lasts the longest.' Tank explained, a boyish excitement in his tone shining through. I took off the hoodie I was wearing, threw it over the top of the centrifuge, and grabbed the sleeves.

'Give me a spin!' I shouted, excited.

Tank danced over to the controls by the lander, the pills were obviously starting to hit him. Nikolai stared at both of us, sitting on the floor in fits of giggles.

'Little girl will not last five seconds on centrifuge!' He lay on the floor, cracking up to the point of hysteria.

'Ready?' yelled Tank, I grabbed the sleeves of my hoodie tightly and braced myself.

'Hit it, American!' I shouted, as soon as he pressed the button I felt myself get lifted off the floor as the centrifuge made me fly. I clung onto the sleeves of my hoodie for dear life as I laughed my head off, spinning round and round, getting dizzier and dizzier, until...

CRASH.

I landed by Tank's feet near the lander, my hair all over my face from where I'd been spinning, I rolled over, cracking up. I gave Tank a spin, he lasted all of about ten seconds, but when it came to Nikolai's turn and he threw up after lasting for about thirty seconds I decided to take a walk.

Oh, the fun you could have in an abandoned Soviet space station.

Wanting to go somewhere a bit different, I headed up the stairs we'd come from, and remembered that if I took a right I'd be somewhat near the PhD Flopper machine. As I took the left route, I headed up a short set of stairs and began to hear a voice. A voice with a strong German accent. I was so overcome with love for everything and everyone right in that moment, and decided that I would have to reach out to Edward to make him feel it too. He was, after all, stuck in here with the rest of us.

I crept as quietly as I could towards the source of his voice, and hiding behind some boxes, I saw the tall, skinny German man sitting next to another lander pad. He was holding what seemed to be the hand of a zombie, I felt slightly creeped out as I moved a bit closer.

A pair of sharp, practically glowing green eyes settled on me as soon as I'd dared to move forward and the zombie hand rolled away down the hill which had the lander pad stationed on it. A stoic look covered his features, he folded his arms and motioned for me to come closer.

'Vhat do you vant?' his tone was full of venom, I edged closer to him a step at a time, the thumping of my heart getting louder.

'Edward! Hello!' I threw him my best smile, the one that got me laid at nightclubs on numerous occasions.

'I zhought zhe American told you to shtay avay from me.' He didn't return the smile, his scowl deepened into a glare.

'He did, but I've never been one to do what other people tell me.' I sat down next to him, a few feet away to keep a safe distance.

'Vell now I'm telling you, GO AVAY! You have no purpose here, shtupid little girl!' he snapped, and I startled.

'I just wanted to say sorry for being a bitch to you. It was a shock, that's all.' I smiled weakly at him, his expression remained unchanged.

'Zhat is fine. You may go now.' He motioned towards the door on the other side of the room, but I wasn't going to give up on him straightaway.

'What are you hiding, Edward? You were so nice to me earlier.'

'I am hiding nozhing.'

I pursed my lips, and looked on at him intently.

'Fine. I am not used to female company. I forget zhey can be so bitchy and mean.' Edward muttered, looking away from me.

I edged a bit closer to him, and put my hand on his shoulder. He startled, his eyes widened in shock as he stared at my hand as though it were going to bite him.

'I'm sorry, Edward. Those needles mean more to me than anything. But don't worry, I'll sort something out. I'm pretty sure I can smoke that stuff anyway. I just wanted to come and apologise, and tell you how much I love you guys even though I've known you for like two days.'

'Vhy do you feel like zhat? Ve are in a terrible situation.'

'Maybe so, but you work so well as a team, and you've coped pretty well with a new intruder in your hideout.' I smiled at him, and felt my stomach leap as he smiled weakly back at me. In that moment, I stared into those green orbs and saw a hint of anguish, masked by total confusion. I pulled him closer to me, into a soft hug. I leant my head against his, we both looked up at the starry night sky and said nothing.

I didn't know if it was just the drink and drugs, or if I was just going a bit crazy being away from normality, but I knew something was wrong.

I liked Edward.


	5. The Gersch Device

The next few days I spent in the space station were interesting to say the least. I spent my waking hours fighting off the hordes of undead, getting to know different weapons (I'd found an amazing machine gun called a Commando, and I carried it around religiously with my ray gun, as well as some awesome dolls inside dolls which exploded in pretty colours), goofing off with the guys and doing my best to quash my feelings for Richtofen. He moved so swiftly and carelessly when it came to slaying zombies, he seemed to enjoy it a bit too much, but all I could do was stand some distance away and admire him from afar with jelly legs and a racing heart. I revelled in thoughts and fantasies and made the most of the precious time to myself I managed to get in the early evenings when I'd sit at the highest lander pad, smoking a few joints by myself, admiring the view of Russia below. I'd even found a teddy bear on the roof, which I kept in its place but cuddled it when I felt lonely.

It wasn't something I ever saw myself doing with my life, but in a strange way I'd become used to it. The sights and sounds of the city I called home seemed millions of miles away, and I still cried sometimes when no-one could see me. I missed my friends, but my new ones did their best to protect me and had really adopted me into their zombie-slaying guerrilla squad. I don't think that's their official titles, but damn it sounded cool.

When Nikolai woke me up one morning by warning me that the undead were infiltrating, I took a spin on the Random Box and pulled out a strange-looking device. It was grey, edged with black and yellow stripes, and it bore a warning sign in Russian underneath. It was called a Gersch device. When I activated one for the first time, I nearly fainted.

There it was, in all its glory – glowing and purple, with a slight humming sound emanating from it, and a black centre of mass. My mind flashed back to the day in that miserable back-alley in London when I took that chance and how I'd chosen my own fate. If I'd made just one move differently, I'd still be in my little flat with all my friends, smiling and laughing, and high. No zombies, no need to watch my back every minute of daylight hours.

Yet also, no Richtofen.

Mindlessly, I shot, slashed and blasted up the zombies that day. My heart really wasn't in it – I was in another world, hopelessly confused, racking my brains trying to connect the pieces as to how I arrived here. I approached Edward sometime later that evening when he was back in his usual spot by the lander near what I found out was a Stamin-Up machine. I jogged over to where he was sitting, and plopped down next to him and presented him with the Gersch device.

'I walked into the centre of one of these things when I landed here.' My tone was serious, I looked to Edward for acknowledgement.

'Your observational skills serve you vell, Fraulein Vilcox.' He kept his eyes on the notes he had in his hands, which were so full of numbers and scribbles and equations they were illegible to the untrained eye. I furrowed my forehead into a frown, and pursing my lips I decided to persevere with my case.

'How did I get here, of all places? And why is the world in a zombie apocalypse? When I was back home in London, none of this was happening anywhere in the world...' I stared mindlessly into space as I asked him.

'if I knew vhy or how you got here, be sure zhat you vould be zhe first to know. If your observational skills are really as good as zhey seem to be, you vould have noticed zhat zhe documents I have in my hands are my notes on vorking zhe maths behind zhese personal black holes.'

I felt myself blush as he looked at me, and motioned for me to look at the papers.

'Herr Gersch vas certainly a genius. But zhere is one zhing I must ask you.'

I pretended to be interested in the mess of jibberish numbers and letters in front of me so as not to look at those sparkling green eyes.

'Go for it.' I muttered to the lifeless pieces of paper.

'Vhere you come from, vhat year is it?'

'Twenty-eleven.'

'I see. Kate, do you know zhat here ve are in zhe sixties, and zhat myself und my friends are from a time even before zhen? Ve teleported here from zhe forties. I vanted to vear my uniform here, but zhe Soviets, zhey vould not have taken to zhat so vell. So vhen I got here, I put on zhe only zhing I could find.' He sighed, pulling at the fabric of the space suit that clung loosely to his skinny frame.

I looked straight up at him, gobsmacked.

'You... you're a Nazi?' I exclaimed, the shock in my voice obviously resounding as he raised his eyebrows at me. The fact that I'd gone back in time I'd kind of already gathered, but it was an unsettling prospect I preferred not to consider.

'I prefer zhe term, Brigadefuhrer. Back to zhe subject at hand,' He dismissed my question.

'It appears zhat zhe use of zhe Gersch Device has triggered some bizarre events. For example, in some areas zhere have been higher levels of atomic and molecular activity. I noticed zhis vhen I valked into zhe room of Speed Cola, I found myself under intense pressure vhen I tried to walk through. I could not see vhat vas causing it, and I found myself unable to walk at normal speed. I vas much slower, as zhough some invisible force vas restricting me. A component of black holes is zheir ability to manipulate atoms around zhem.'

I kept staring at him in amazement. He was so clever, behind the crazy madman I'd first come to know him as was a very intelligent man with a passion for science and the world around him. I moved a little closer to him.

'And how's that relevant?'

He sighed. 'I have also seen ze sky moving in bizarre vays. Zhe reality around zhese waves of purple light distorts, zhe clouds twist and bend around zhem, yet zhe light comes in short spurts. Like vhen you throw a black hole, you see reality twist around it. Objects appear to distort.'

He pursed his lips, and took a deep breath.

'Fraulein, from vhat my research has shown, in accordance vith my early predictions, it vould appear zhat you have arrived here from anozher universe. How fascinating!' He scrutinized me, looking me up and down in fascination.

'Yet, you appear no different from zhe people in zhis universe. Strange.'

My breath caught in my throat. It made sense. I was back in time, in a place where events had unfolded very differently from how they had back home. The world in this place was most definitely not what it once was, and was fighting for its survival in the nineteen-sixties. This world was under siege from its own people. In this universe, I'd never have been born. Back home, it wasn't even like I was dead. I simply did not exist.

I felt my breathing become shallow as my hands started shaking, I focused with all my might on the papers Edward was holding in his hand, but it was too much.

As my eyes began to sting, I gritted my teeth and hid my face from Edward who was staring at me in confusion. I hid my face in my hands, and let the tears fall. A hand on my back startled me, yet I didn't look up as I knew it was Edward. For a sadistic madman, he was surprisingly good at handling situations. His hand moved up my back to the top of my neck, and I felt calloused, cold fingertips stroke the bare flesh under my hair. The hand trailed down over my shoulder, down my back again, and I felt an arm snake around my waist.

Edward pulled me close, and I let myself cry on his shoulder as he tentatively put his other hand up to the side of my neck. Familiar cold fingers, slightly roughened from years of experiments and weeks of fighting zombies rubbed up and down my warm neck, and I nearly flinched as he moved his hand to the side of my face.

I stared in confusion as he pulled my head upwards, and looked into sparkling green orbs. He seemed to bear no expression, but conflicting feelings danced and blazed behind those beautiful emerald eyes. I closed my eyes as he moved closer, closer...

The moment Edward kissed me, everything in the world was okay. Nothing mattered anymore. There was no pain, no anguish, no other universe. This was my home now. And all I knew was that I'd get by here somehow – all I needed was him.

Thin lips pressed themselves to mine, the ring through my bottom lip massaging his causing him to press harder against me. His tongue danced against mine, as the kiss deepened I moved one hand to his waist and the other into soft, greying brown hair as I melted into him. I looked up and into his eyes as I pulled away and smiled softly, stroking the side of his face. I giggled.

He returned my smile with an indicative look to the door, and following suit I caught sight of Tank staring at us with his mouth wide open before sprinting off to spread the juicy gossip.

Damn you, Tank.


	6. Jenna

**A/N: Sorry for the long update, and thank you so much to all my reviewers, love you all! :D I've not written in ages because I've been on holiday, and I'm going through a bit of writers block 'cause I've started learning German and tbh it's taking up all my energy lol. Now I'm back into writing again I'll try update more often. Much love and cookies for everyone x**

'_The search continues for eighteen-year-old Kathrin Wilcox, who disappeared from her South London apartment last week. Police have arrested and detained three men on suspicion of murder as the evidence mounts against Muhammed Sheikh, Mostaq Sayed, and Asif Bengal. Eyewitnesses claim to have seen Wilcox being severely beaten by the three men, before being abducted in a white van. All three men arrived in the capital last year from Pakistan illegally, and have also been linked to Neo-Nazi movement Combat 18, as well as Al-Quaeda amongst other identified terrorist organisations. Those with any more information are urged to come forward by calling the number on-screen. Join us for more updates on the Ten O'Clock News tonight. Emily Moore, Hackney, reporting for BBC News.'_

'It's all bullshit! She'd never be that stupid!' Jenna Norton yelled at the TV, throwing the remote down on the floor.

'Anything to stir up racism. Unfortunately, ethnic minorities make good cover stories.' Sighed Jack Bennett as he slumped down on the sofa next to Jenna, and he ran a hand through his messy blonde hair.

'I can't believe people actually listen to this crap.' Jenna muttered, and promptly turned off the television, which had now progressed to a news story about the national deficit.

'For a start, Neo-Nazis are white supremacists. Those people are from Pakistan. You can't be involved in Al-Queda and Combat 18,' she went on, stepping over to the mirror on the other side of the room before pulling her long black hair into a loose ponytail. 'but the public are content to accept it as fact. They're just happy to sit back and be spoon-fed this crap.'

Jack stretched out his skinny long legs on his black leather sofa, and glared in concentration at the wall. 'I know. Whole lot of good they'd do about this whole thing anyway though. Best we could hope for is a few activists outside parliament with picket signs.'

Jenna grimaced. 'True. The pigs most likely ain't even been looking for her. Too involved with raids.'

'Then I think we better do a bit of our own detective work. Roll up a spliff.' Jack sat up, thinking. He knew Kate well, and Jenna knew her even better. If there was anyone who could find out what she was up to, it was them.

Jenna sauntered over to the small, brown polished coffee table and knelt down, emptying the weed onto it as she began to roll.

'She was coming to see you after she got back from my place that day. She was meant to have a party.'

'Yeah, I remember. I waited for her in Starbucks for an hour that day!' Jenna kept her head down as she concentrated.

'She took the back alleys back to Hackney that day 'cause the fed were busting some geezer down her street. I offered one of my guys to give her a lift back but you know what she's like. Too independent for her own good.' mused Jack.

The two left Jack's small apartment with their hoods up as they stepped into the torrential rain that fell over the whole of London. As Jenna lit up the spliff, she turned to Jack, confused.

'There's so many back alleys through these parts it'd be impossible to know which ones she took.' She scowled in concentration as she took a long drag, a light mellow buzz filling her head as she walked with Jack down the quickest route to her best friend's place.

When the spliff was long gone and the two felt like they'd been walking for hours, they were all but ready to give up as Jack slumped down against a grimy fence in a particularly dingy, dirty, narrow alleyway.

'We're never gonna find her. We might as well go back.'

'Well fine, Jack. You can go if you want. But I'm gonna stay here and keep looking. I'm not even looking for her, 'cause if she wanted to find us she would have by now. I'm just going to keep looking for anything that might help us out.'

'Look, Jenna. I've got a few pill runs to do. I'll catch ya later bird, but be careful eh?' said Jack, leaving an exasperated Jenna behind.

Turning away from the blonde walking away down the dingy alley, Jenna trudged over to a wooden crate a few feet away and slumped down against it. She stared into space as her worries and curiosity consumed her, her brain filling to the brim with wheres, whys, hows and whos. Head in hands, she let out a huge sigh, concerned for her best friend.

A dull humming noise snapped her out of her confused stupor, an electrical buzz that came from seemingly nowhere. As rain began to fall from the heavens, Jenna stood up, ready to give up and go home. Her search had proved fruitless, she'd failed. Dragging her feet, she kept her head down to shield her eyes from the rain as she made the slow march home. Too consumed by her own thoughts to take note of her surroundings, she didn't see the purple-blue light materialise in front of her face as she felt reality twist around her and a pulling, magnetic sensation which sucked her into the depths of the Gersch device.

'Eat my blade, bitches!' I yelled as I cut and sliced and slashed through seemingly endless hordes of undead. I wiped a bead of sweat and a fair amount of blood off my face as I stumbled up the stairs towards speed cola, not once taking my eyes off the sprinting zombies coming towards me. I gambled a split second to reload my ray gun, and kept looking in all directions as I made my way to the top lander.

'Lander sequence initiated.'

The familiar Russian accent I paid no attention to as the zombies approached me from all sides, I continued to run in circles around the lander space as I herded them. The familiar ground-shaking from the giant piece of machinery I was so used to by now I just expected it, and I'd got my routine down to a tee. I'd herd the zombies until the lander was cool enough to ride, and I'd run in a random direction to buy myself a second or two before launching myself to safety.

I slumped back against the railings of the lander, and breathed a sigh somewhere between exasperation and relief. Looking over the other side, I saw a crowd of grey making their way towards a moving peachy figure who was on the run, and another crowd of grey stationary in a circle by the lander next to PhD Flopper.

Whenever there was a crowd of zombies in a circle, it always meant bad news.

Wondering who'd been got at by the zombies, I grabbed the metal railings of the lander and suddenly couldn't wait to get back to the ground. If none of us got to them in time, whoever was downed would turn into a zombie – the damage would be irreversible.

I was surprised to find Nikolai herding zombies around the centrifuge, who due to his lack of ammo had resorted to smashing the undead over the head with an empty bottle of vodka. He had a frantic look in his eyes which faded to a faint smile of relief when I landed in front of him.

'Eh, Katie! These dirty capitalists use up all my ammo, I have to resort to smashing them with my precious vodka!' Nikolai exclaimed as he struggled to fight off the crowd, I stepped in and with a whole clip of my ray gun I swiftly bought them down.

'Nikolai, we've gotta hurry. Someone's been knocked down out there but I can't tell who it is. But we better go, fast. Cover my back with this,' I handed him the Commando I had in my bag, 'and I'll take them down from the front. Let's move.'

'But I just saw Tank, Takeo and Edward run to Juggernog machine. Are you sure is not just dead zombie?' he asked as we moved up the stairs, back to back, and up the second set of stairs above the centrifuge.

'No, the zombies crowded round them like flies to shit. They never do that to each other. Regardless of who it is, I don't wanna live with the guilt of being too late to save them.'

As we approached the stairs toward the PhD Flopper machine, the ravenous crowd of zombies that clawed at the body slumped on the floor turned their luminescent, lifeless eyes towards me and Nikolai.

'Oh shit. They are pissed today...' I stared at them in horror as the zombies broke into a full sprint towards us, and so the bloodshed started again – Nikolai with my Commando, and me with my Ray Gun. There were so many of them I started to feel claustrophobic and overrun as I stepped backwards, and backwards into a corner. Surrounded by zombies, they clawed at my face and neck and I started to scream.

'Nikolai! Help me!' I yelled in vain as I caught a glimpse of Nikolai get overrun too. I prayed for something at that moment, anything, the Juggernog could only protect you for so long...

At that moment, a small Japanese man with a big Thundergun came sprinting into the area, blasting group after group of zombies across the map. I sighed in relief, and chuckled inwardly as I overheard an 'about time, Takeo!' from an irate Nikolai.

'Katie go, revive that person, or she wirr die!' I moved swiftly without hesitation to the figure on the floor, curled up and groaning.

She?

I turned the girl over to face me, and pulled out pain relief and bandages. When I'd revived her she perked up a bit, and as disfigured as her face had become, I recognised the girl straightaway.

'JENNA! What the fuck happened to you?' I slipped my jacket off my back and put it over my shivering best friend. I pulled another bandage out of my pocket and mopped at the blood and cuts on her face.

'I... Kate...' she pulled a bloody hand up to her forehead and touched tentatively at a particularly deep slash which was still bleeding.

'Jenna, look, don't worry. You'll be alright, we have guns to fight them off, and Edward's a doctor, he'll fix you up in no time, just don't worry okay?' I held her hand as I spoke, but she was in such a state even I wasn't sure she was going to make it. It was like repeating the words for my own reassurance as well. All I had to do was wait for Edward, and he couldn't be far.

'Ahahahaha! Hit it again vith zhe shtick!' a familiar German accent cried, accompanied by an American who was cracking up. Angry, I ran towards the voices, to find them crowding a lonely slow crawler and hitting it with a stick somewhere near the Pack-a-Punch machine. The crawler growled with indignation, and lunged when they got too close. The boys seemed to find this hilarious.

'Edward. Tank. Crawler. Sorry to interrupt your little party of three, but your magnificent black hole devices have fucked up again and we have a new comrade. She's my best fucking friend and she's dying over there while you play your stupid game with this crawler.' I spat, livid.

'Mein liebe, relax, I vill be able to save her. I trust you have completed the initial bandaging procedure?' he looked at me quizzically.

'Yeah, but fucking move! Now!'

'Mmhmm. Kate. Vhile you are not as unbearable as zhe ozhers, zhere are certain zhings I vill not let you get avay vith. I vill save your friend, but you do not tell me vhat to do like zhat.' He kept his manner calm, this surprised me – if it was any of the others they'd probably have taken the position of the crawler. I showed it no mercy, and engulfed it in green light.

'Sorry Edward but how can I just sit back and laugh while you're fucking around with the crawler and my best friend is fucking dying?'

'Vell, zhe crawler is dead now, I suppose ve better move, Tank. Go on ahead.'

The American threw me a curt smile as he strode away from us.

A hand on my sleeve pulled me close, and my face was met by Edward's as I turned around. Thin hands snaked their way around me, long arms wrapping me in a warm embrace. His touch always felt so good, I could never stay mad at him.

'Ich liebe dich, mein Edward.' I snuggled into him, before pulling away. He smiled.

'Please, let's go and save my friend.'


	7. Alice in Wonderland

'And it was like, boom, I just appeared here out of nowhere! Like a magic man! Oooh, magic!' exclaimed Jenna, between hiccups.

'YOU, Miss Katie-I'm-So-Amazing-At-Fighting-Off-Zombies, are different now.' She leant back to swig from the bottle of wine we shared, almost falling off the top of the Juggernog machine where she was perched as she pointed an accusing finger at me.

'How?' I feigned shock in sarcasm as I cracked up at her, and took a puff of the spliff I was holding.

'You don't know how to party any more. All you talk about is Edward and zombies, and guns, and zombies, and Edward...'

'You know you said Edward and zombies twice?' I raised an eyebrow at her.

'Yes I know that. I emphasised for effect.' I found it impossible to take her seriously as she swayed, dangerously close to falling off.

'Fine. Let's forget about all that for a while. The zombies don't come around here at night, for some reason.' I reached into my purple rucksack, which by now had seen some damage – it was covered in blood spatters and dirt. I pulled out three small containers.

'Tonight is all about you and me. Take your pick, I've got ecstasy, LSD and coke. I've powdered my heroin 'cause all I can do is smoke it, Edward took my needles a while back. And I've got about a joint's worth left.' I opened a small bag with the LSD tabs, and studied them meticulously. I smiled as I pulled out a particular favourite design of mine, the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.

I put two tabs and a gram of coke in my pocket before we set off on a walk.

* * *

><p>I looked to Jenna, then down at my hand which was entwined with hers as we walked through a large, dark forest. Gripping tighter, I gasped as a particularly tall and menacing-looking tree gave me an evil grin. The other trees began to follow suit, and all I could hear was cackles and booming, evil laughs as they utilized their branches to swipe for me and Jenna. I was aware of the fact that I'd taken LSD, but I was so completely convinced that this was real all I could do was stand still while I felt the colour drain from my face and my breathing rate go through the roof.<p>

'Kate, look at that white rabbit over there! Look at him rushing about in his little suit!' Jenna giggled and pointed, and I covered my face with my hands as I felt tears sting the corners of my eyes.

'Go home, little girl!' came the booming voice of the tall tree next to me, as it swiped for me with a particularly lethal-looking branch.

I stumbled backwards, and lost my footing. I felt my bum collide with some tree roots, and blindly fumbling about in the dark I crawled away as fast as I could. I took a sigh of relief when I was a safe distance from any trees.

'Kate, seriously! Look at him!' squealed the childish, excited voice of my best friend.

Humouring her, I looked over to the direction she pointed at – which took some work, it was pitch black, and I had other things to worry about. Yet, there he was – a large, white rabbit in a suit. He was maybe two or three feet tall and stood upright, a little on the round side, and looked very cute in his grey suit trousers and red waistcoat, which was complimented by his black bow tie. He was running about feverishly, stopping only briefly every few seconds to check the large clock he was carrying.

I took a moment to wonder how the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland had managed to find its way to somewhere around Eastern Europe.

'I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date, no time to say hello, goodbye, I'm late I'm late I'm late!' exclaimed the rabbit as he ran over to where Jenna and I sat, dumbfounded.

No quicker than the rabbit had appeared, there was a flash of red light and he was nowhere to be seen. I looked down to the floor to see the whole of my legs and feet and the ground around me covered in filthy, wriggling, people-eating maggots.

I screamed at the top of my lungs.

'Kate, what the fuck?' came Jenna's voice, which felt millions of miles away.

I ignored her and carried on screaming as I scratched hastily and feverishly at my skin, applying as much pressure with my short nails as I could as the maggots continued to writhe and wriggle all over me. Tears poured from my eyes and I felt myself becoming short of breath as my body descended into panic mode. As I scratched and scratched away at my skin, the maggots became harder to budge. As a last resort I reached for the sickle I always carried with me, and began to scrape at my skin.

The harder I persisted with the knife along my skin, the less itchy it became. I watched in triumph as the maggots fell to the floor, though they'd changed colour by now to a deep ruby red. I reached out and touched my leg, they were red raw with blood. I presumed it was because the maggots had managed to get to me before I'd realised they were attacking me.

'Kate... you... what the fuck have you done to your legs? There's blood fucking everywhere!' came a worried voice, and as the source of the voice leant down in front of me I was greeted with the evil, terrifying face of a clown. It stared at me like a predator with large black eyes that contrasted starkly with the bone-white face paint it wore, and its red-painted lips stretched into a menacing grin.

I screamed again.

I reached for my sickle and slashed at the clown's face, just once, to warn it off.

'You bitch! Why the fuck did you do that? That really hurt!' yelled Jenna, but I looked around and still couldn't see her anywhere.

I watched in complete satisfaction as the clown backed away from me.

* * *

><p>I was back at the Soviet space station, yet I had no idea how or why. I laid on the lander by PhD Flopper, and it was still dark. I must have got back somehow. The LSD had worn off by now and I was left with a bitter taste of blood in my mouth and I looked down at my legs which were somehow bandaged. Sitting up, I looked around for any sign of Jenna.<p>

I was greeted by a pair of luminescent, big green eyes which appeared in front of me. I felt my stomach leap and my heart flutter as Edward picked me up in his arms.

'Babe, where's Jenna?' I mumbled, resting my head against his arm.

'She is vith zhe American. She's not happy vith you, but I suggest you sort that out anozher time. You did yourself some serious damage, mein liebe.' Edward kept his voice quiet too as he walked.

'Why's she unhappy with me?'

'Do not concern yourself vith zhis now. Vhy did you vander avay from zhe space station?' asked Edward, concerned.

'We wanted to go somewhere quiet where we could just chill, like old times.' I felt stupid as I spoke.

He said nothing as we continued up some stairs below Speed Cola, and into a small, dark room. Edward put me down on the floor, and I smiled to myself as I saw him lie down next to me.

'I think I had a bad trip.' I mumbled.

'Ja, zhat is true. May I look at your cuts?' His eyes glowed with fascination.

'Go for it.' I rested my head on my arms, nonplussed.

I winced in pain as I felt bandages peel back, and I was horrified at what I saw underneath. My legs were red raw and skinless, still bleeding.

'Your blood... it's so... beautiful...' muttered Edward, I looked at him quizzically.

I hissed in pain as a wet, soft tongue flicked against my shin.

'I'm sorry mein liebe, I cannot help myself...'

He tenderly wrapped the bandages back around my wounds, and I grabbed the top of his space suit to bring his face close to mine. I ran a hand through mousey-brown hair as I pushed my lips against his, and once again the bitter, metallic taste of blood filled my senses as I deepened the kiss. As my tongue moved with his, I unzipped the back of his space suit to caress his soft skin.

I leaned up slightly as he removed my shirt, and cold fingertips traced their way over my stomach and chest and hips. Pulling his space suit down, I caressed his chest and stomach. He was so skinny and obviously malnourished, but I didn't care. Edward's body was perfect, to me.

That night, Edward and I made love for the first time.


	8. Rant

Let's clear up a few things cause this is starting to piss me off.

If you don't like my character don't read the god damn story. If you think she's some sort of Mary-Sue then that's just your opinion and to be honest I really don't care, I don't see how she is anyway, just because she falls in love with one of the characters that makes her a Mary-Sue?

I don't know of any other Mary-Sues that are addicted to drugs?

Just leave it out allright, like I said if you don't like my story it's simple:

PRESS THE BACKSPACE BUTTON.

Safe.


End file.
